Point of View

Alaska by James Michener is written in the third person point of view. The narrator is the author, James Michener. The use of the third person point of view allows the author to provide all of the background and historical information that is so important to a novel of this type. Michener's historical novels are mixtures of fact and fiction and the use of the third person allows him to provide the background information that is necessary. There is enough dialogue between the characters so that the reader is able to know the main characters. The reader can learn the major aspects of their personalities by looking at the way they interact. The use of the third person avoids the problems inherent in the use of a character as the narrator. In this situation, the knowledge of the reader is limited to the knowledge of the...